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18th MONT DE MARSAN FLAMENCO FESTIVAL
2006. LOS AMADOR / LOS MONEO
Family first
Silvia Calado. Mont de Marsan, July 6th,
2006
Photo gallery
/ Online
video
‘Amador-Amador’. Juan José
Amador: cante. Raimundo Amador: guitar. Diego Amador:
piano, cante. Ramón Amador: cante, guitar. José
Luis Rodríguez: guitar. Juan José Amador (Jr.):
cante. Carmen Amador: cante. Luis Amador: box drum / ‘Manuel
Moneo y su familia’. Manuel Moneo: cante. El Barullo:
cante. Macarena Moneo and Rocío Moneo: cante, baile.
Juan Moneo: guitar. Antonio Moya: guitar. 18th Mont de Marsan
Flamenco Festival 2006. Café Cantante. Mont de Marsan
(France), July 6th, 2006. 7:30 p.m.
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Manuel Moneo (Photo: Daniel
Muñoz) |
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Never. The Amador family had never before set foot on stage
together in their entirety. Never before had they shared a
purely ‘Amador-Amador’ show. And at Mont de Marsan,
sometimes miracles happen. Raimundo
Amador, Juan José Amador, Diego Amador, Ramón
Amador... and their “juniors” gathered to enjoy
themselves, to share that special mixture of authenticity
and progress the clan features. And the thing is that the
Amador trademark isn’t ordinary. The introduction proved
it. They came in one by one, guitar at the ready, dropping
a toná before the microphone. There were unrestrained
olés amidst a crowd including artists such as Pepa
de Benito. Juan José’s crystal-clear echo. Ramón’s
rusty echo. Diego’s hoarse echo. And Raimundo’s
guitar, right on. The encounter is already a touching celebration
on and off the tablao. A symphony orchestra of guitars with
José Luis Rodríguez at the helm, who takes on
the added surname of Amador tonight. Seguiriyas. The ones
playing sing. The ones singing play. Soleá. Even the
most modern ones in the family remember “El Gloria,
de Pastora, de Tomás” today. Reaching those roots
is the piano of Diego
Amador, who remained solo por bulerías. Taste.
Music. Flamencura. An extremely gifted artist with a spiritual
halo.
Pata
Negra couldn’t miss the party. Nor could Camarón.
‘Ay, José’. Raimundo turns flamenco rock,
alternating fingers and pick. The room feels a sort of shaking.
And Raimundo keeps on with flamenco rock, but looking towards
Morón, towards Diego del Gastor. Por bulerías,
forceful and rhythmic, embracing his ‘gerundina’.
El Churri takes up his seat at the piano once more. He comes
back to share a taranta with Juan José Amador. Accompanying
piano... for his cousin the cantaor and for himself, also
a cantaor. Next por bulerías, piano and guitar, that
of Raimundo, are toyed around with by four hands. Olé.
“Por tangos, come on!”, shouts Juan José.
And at the conductor’s order, the troops stand firm.
The ones playing sing. The ones singing play. The party continues
por bulerías. As many knowing smiles as falsetas. And
daughter Carmen takes off her shoes and does a wild baile
to the beat marked by her father. It is the son who sings
to his father Juan José when he closes the night with
a little kick. Parents, children, cousins, brothers and sisters,
aunts and uncles... Family matters.
Familia Amador (Photo: Daniel
Muñoz)
Also dealing with family matters were Los
Moneo in the first part of the evening. With patriarch
Manuel Moneo presiding over part of this outstanding Jerez
family. There were plenty of comments in the halls afterwards
about how Manuel had sung por seguiriyas; they hadn’t
been sung at this festival for some time. And it must have
been true. But not everything was kept inside. There was also
a party. And twofold, with sisters Macarena and Rocío
singing por tangos and bulerías. Also shining on cante
was El Barullo and even granddaughter Filomena, a slender
little girl in a flamenco costume with a mini-skirt who, sitting
on her grandfather’s lap, sang older people’s
stuff. Grandparents, grandchildren, parents, children... Flamenco
family matters.
Photo
gallery. Festival de Mont de Marsan
Click the images to enlarge |
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| Juan José
Amador
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz)
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Raimundo
and Carmen Amador
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz) |
Diego Amador
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz) |
Raimundo
Amador
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz) |
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| Ramón
Amador
(PHoto: Daniel Muñoz)
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Familia Amador
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz) |
Raimundo,
Luis y Diego Amador
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz) |
Manuel Moneo
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz) |
Maestros
S.C. Mont de Marsan, July 6th, 2006
Alejandro Granados
(Photo: Daniel Muñoz)
They’ve barely taken
a breath of fresh air following the intense
day of courses and they’re already back
to the grindstone. As a novelty, this edition
of the Mont de Marsan Festival is going to bid
farewell with a gala starring the maestros.
And the afternoons are for the rehearsals. Isabel
Bayón, Alejandro Granados, Alicia
Márquez. Jaleos, bulerías, alegrías.
On guitar, Daniel Méndez and Rafael Rodríguez
‘Cabeza’. Three personal bailes.
Two different guitars. In a room at the Ecole
de Musique, the first one to make contact with
the tocaores is Sevillian Isabel Bayón.
The winding bailaora traces the way for them,
marks the cuts for them, guides them along the
rugged paths of her heels’ music. If some
pupil walks by in the hall, he has to stop and
observe the artist. Though they’re more
than used to seeing their maestros in action.
A class by Alejandro
Granados is an experience for students and
for ‘auditors’. The maestro, full
of presence and maturity, teaches by seeking
inspiration. He’s constantly on the move.
He marks the steps, dances with the pupils,
walks amidst them, steps aside to find himself.
Impressive. How interesting they must be, that
several instructors even go to follow his classes
every day after teaching their own. Felipe Mato
and Lidia Valle were there like just another
two students. And that truly isn’t usual.
Another course to highlight is the compás
and clapping one taught by Gamba de Jerez. Guitar
and baile pupils and enthusiasts in general
have the chance to understand flamenco’s
rhythmic structures, to know the keys to the
‘fiesta’, to learn how to contain
that excess clapping, with a practical, pleasant
method. And the thing is that the course offer
organized by Taller
Flamenco is really complete. Added this
year as a novelty are courses in accompanying
guitar for baile and accompanying guitar for
cante by Daniel Méndez and Rafael Rodríguez,
a success with the French students, whose devotion
is complete. All you have to do is walk out
of the school of music to bump into groups who,
between downpours, practice the day’s
exercises outdoors.
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